Slated to open in the fourth quarter of 2016, the new city campus of PSB Academy is envisioned as a “future-academy that is cosmopolitan [and] technologically advanced,” says Viva Sinniah, Executive Chairman of PSB Academy. “We are creating an education experience that gives our students a smarter way forward,” he adds. 

Spanning 100,000 square feet across two floors within Marina Square, the new campus aims to deliver a vibrant and comfortable learning environment that inspires collaboration between students and staff.

Informed by Singapore’s ambition to become the world’s first Smart Nation by 2030, the new campus will be equipped with numerous innovative facilities and spaces. These include 29 classrooms, five lecture theatres, a true-to-life media studio, a town-hall, a student hub, break-out spaces for discussions between lessons, acoustically-treated MBA seminar rooms that do not require microphones, and more – all coming together to form an ‘oasis of learning’.

The campus is designed by Singapore-based practice architects61. The firm is no stranger to such projects, having designed the Stanford American International School, Singapore Institute of Management and Australia International School in Singapore, to name a few. 

The architects’ approach for the new campus is driven by the Academy’s mission “to groom and equip students for the future economy in Singapore and beyond.” It also draws inspiration from Singapore’s identity as a garden city, featuring a green environment with natural plants and lighting. 

According to the architects, one of the key challenges of the site was the lack of natural daylight. “Differentiation of lighting conditions [to cater to] different functions were adopted to address the limitation,” says architects61. The campus will employ dynamic lighting systems that will adjust itself to suit the time of the day, automatically, stimulating the experience of an outdoor campus indoors.

Within the campus, informal and formal spaces will be differentiated by two core palettes. Informal spaces will be characterised by colours and textures that emulate the natural environment, while formal spaces will feature a clean and contemporary look, creating a clear distinction. 

Promoting the learning process as a journey of discovery and adventure, informal spaces such as the entrance lobby, library and pre-function areas subtly depict natural landscapes such as trekking trails, cliff faces and caverns found in remote places that explorers seek around the world. 

“The theme of making learning an adventure stems from our understanding of the new learning environment that is grounded on experiential and inquiry-based education,” explains architects61.

“The future of learning needs to be one that is fully attuned to the needs of the future economy. The design of the campus aims to create a learning experience that is reminiscent of a continuous adventure of learning, one which inspires students to make connections, collaborate and co-create,” architects 61 concludes.

All renderings courtesy of architects61

architects 61
a61.com.sg